More than 1,000 talented high school artists come to campus

May 2, 2003

KALAMAZOO -- More than 1,000 of the state's finest young artists
will gather Thursday through Saturday, May 8-10, for the 41st
annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival at Western Michigan University.
The festival honors Michigan high school students gifted in the
areas of dance, drama, instrumental and vocal music, visual arts,
creative writing, and film/video.

Unique to the state of Michigan, the festival began in 1963
as simple talent screening of young musicians. Today, it is a
comprehensive arts spectacular, culminating a nine-month search
for the finest artistic talent in Michigan high schools. More
than 60,000 students across the state become involved in the
adjudication process that results in more than 1,000 students
being invited to participate in the annual three-day festival.
This is the 19th year WMU has served as host to the event, which
is sponsored in part through funding from the Michigan Council
for Arts and Cultural Affairs; Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo;
National City Bank; Irving S. Gilmore Foundation; Psi Iota Xi,
Eta Omicron Chapter; Howard Printing; and James & Springgate.

Honorary chairperson of this year's festival is Thomas A.
Chandler, senior vice president and chief financial officer for
National City Credit Card Services. Chandler has served with
the bank for 18 years and, in 1999, relocated to Kalamazoo from
Columbus, Ohio. He is an active member of the Kalamazoo community
and is involved with several organizations, including United
Way, Gryphon Place, Western Michigan University's Haworth College
of Business and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.

This year's artist-in-residence is Peter Sparling, artistic
director of the Peter Sparling Dance Company of Ann Arbor. Sparling
is recognized internationally as a modern dance classicist, master
teacher and innovative choreographer. He is a past member of
the Martha Graham and Jose Limon Dance Companies. Sparling will
bring his entire company of seven members to work with students
participating in MYAF, and will conduct a workshop that will
integrate the work of creative writing and dance students. This
will be the first year that the artist-in-residence for MYAF
will be funded by a corporate sponsor, National City Bank.

The outstanding students attending the festival will share their
talents with their peers and the public through performances
and exhibitions. However, a large part of the participants' experience
while at the festival includes educational workshops and clinics
offered by professional artists. The workshops include visual
arts, taught this year by instructors from the Detroit Center
for Creative Studies; creative writing, taught by Elizabeth Kerlikowski
and Julie Stotz-Ghosh; and film and video, theatre, dance and
a workshop conducted by Very Special Arts of Michigan. Rehearsals
and performances for band, orchestra, jazz and choir are led
by guest conductors. This year's conductors are John E. Williamson,
director of bands at Central Michigan University; Donald Schleicher,
music director and conductor of the University of Illinois Orchestras
and the Quad Symphony Orchestra; Miles Osland, director of jazz
studies and professor of saxophone at the University of Kentucky;
and Jerry Blackstone, director of choirs and chair of the conducting
department at the University of Michigan.

The festival also provides a forum for honoring and recognizing
outstanding educators and administrators in the arts.

The teachers and administrators of the year and the organizations
that will present awards are: Michigan Art Education Association--Christa
Wise, Saugatuck High School; Detroit Area Film and Television--Joe
Elliott, Henry Ford II High School in Sterling Heights; Michigan
Interscholastic Forensic Association-- Lori Spares, Big Rapids
High School, and Frank Gollon, Rochester High School; Michigan
Council of Teachers of English--Kent Case, Concord Academy in
Petoskey; Michigan Music Teachers Association--Roberta Kraft,
Hope College; American String Teachers Association--Judy Palac,
Michigan State University; Michigan School Band and Orchestra
Association--Al Johnston, Banks Middle School in Walled Lake,
and David Reed, Bloomfield Hills Schools; Michigan School Vocal
Music Association--Mark Webb, East Grand Rapids High School;
Michigan Music Educators Association--Steven M. Waters, Jenison
Junior High School; Michigan Dance Council--Deborah Kirkland,
Detroit Public Schools and Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High
School; Very Special Arts of Michigan--Gayle Owens, Detroit Pubic
Schools.

ArtServe Michigan is presenting five awards, including two
Educator of the Year awards to Suzanne Butler-Lich of East Oakview
Elementary School in Grand Rapids and Mark Webb, East Grand Rapids
Schools; two Advocate of the Year awards to Madeline Mildonis-Fritz,
of Gaylord and Mikel Bresee, College of Creative Studies; and
an Administrator of the Year award to Randi L'Hommedieu, Central
Michigan University.

Honorees will be acknowledged at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at
a concert in Miller Auditorium culminating with a performance
by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.

A total of 112 award-winning visual arts works will be on
display along with 30 works selected from Very Special Arts of
Michigan in the Multi-Media Room of the Dalton Center. The

exhibition will be open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on
Thursday and Friday, May 8 and 9, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Saturday, May 10. The exhibit includes the 30 pieces in the Governor's
Traveling Show and the top 18 pieces that are selected for special
recognition.

Public performance events begin on Friday at l p.m. and include
theatre productions, band, orchestra and choral performances,
poetry readings, and a film/video showcase that concludes the
evening at 10:45 p.m.

Saturday begins with a Piano Master Class at 10 a.m., instructed
by Helen Marlais from Grand Valley State University. Performances
by several dance companies, instrumental and vocal ensembles,
and a film/video showcase are scheduled throughout the day. A
grand finale will begin at 2:30 p.m. in Miller Auditorium with
the All-Michigan Honors Jazz Ensemble, band, choir and orchestra
performances and conclude at 4:30 p.m.

Festival passes for all public events are available for $15
at Festival Headquarters in the Dalton Center Lobby. Single event
tickets are $5 and will be on sale 30 minutes prior to each event
in the lobby where the performance takes place. There is no admission
charge to view the visual arts exhibit.

The festival is governed by a board consisting of representatives
from professional arts-in-education organizations and associations.
In addition to those listed as honoring teachers of the year,
they include: Interlochen Center for the Arts, Michigan Federation
of Music Clubs, Education for the Arts and Western Michigan University.

For more information, please contact Gayle Hoogstraten at
(269) 342-1400.

Festival passes for all events are available for $15 at Festival
Headquarters in the Dalton Center Lobby. Individual event tickets
are available for $5, 30 minutes prior to each event in lobby
where the performance is to be held. There is no admission charge
to view the Visual Arts Exhibit.